Other NewsMEGA! AMERICAN COOT remains at Loch Flemington, Highland, Scotland

DENTIST UPDATE (see yesterday's post)!Got up at 5.50am. Got to my parent's house at just after 7am when mother was supposed to be ready but typically wasn't. In 15 minutes I sorted out the adopted stray cat, made father another hot water bottle, made mother a marmalade sandwich and gave instructions to father about what we doing and what he should/shouldn't be doing whilst we were gone – phew! We arrived at the dentist in King's Lynn at 7.58am precisely! Booked mother in and helped her fill in the laborious medical form – she got lucky, the first person booked in hadn't turned up, so she was seen straight away. I then left, had no choice as I had to be at work for 8.30am – I hated leaving her. I phoned the dentist during the morning in my tea break, but of course because of 'patient confidentiality' – (this can be so bl**dy annoying at times!!!) the receptionist would not tell me what treatment mother had had and all she would tell me was, that mother had left. I phoned mother at lunch time who reported that she had had an abscess under that tooth and a massive hole in the tooth next to it and both teeth had to be removed! Later on after I finished work, I drove straight over to Holme and did a bit of shopping for mother in Hunstanton and assisted with a few chores around the house and then went back home late and utterly exhausted.

My birthday begun at Cley. I got really lucky with the Glossy Ibis, who was being watched by birders and photographers in the field next the Three Swallows pub. I was able to get really close to this elegant bird, but the light was shockingly poor, so I was never going to obtain any fabulous shots.

I got a distressed phone call from my mother about finding a dentist, as she was in screaming agony with toothache. Part of me was really worried about her and part of me was cross with her as she had told me around christmas time that a 'bit of tooth had broken off' and I had advised her at the time to get it looked at because, as I had said 'if you get an infection in that, you will be screaming in pain' and that's exactly what's happened now!!! Throughout the day I tried to google (with typically crap mobile phone signal) dentists, in an attempt to get mother an appointment, but failed miserably. This stressed me out for the entire day and I also felt really guilty being out, but without an appointment for her, there was nothing I could really do anyway to be fair. Mother's own dentist had struck her off their list, I found out as she had not been since 2009! This dentist could see her as an emergency on Friday at the earliest. I eventually got through to the emergency dentist in King Street, King's Lynn (which I have used before and are brilliant) and they said we would have to ring at 8am tomorrow to get an appointment. So nothing I else I could do at this moment in time.

Glossy Ibis feeding at Cley.

At the Cley Visitor Centre – it was more chilled than yesterday! It nearly always snows on my birthday and I didn't think that it would be this year – but as I munched through my hot, cheese scone, big snow flakes fell for about quarter of an hour! It looked so pretty! I had a nice catch up with Warden Bernard Bishop just before I left.

The famous Cheese Scone at the Cley Visitor Centre!

At Cley Coastguards I enjoyed watching the Stonechats in the Eye Field again. Quite a few people about for a cold Monday morning – good to see people around the reserve and beach again. Walked along the beach, which remains stripped of shingle and still looking very atmospheric and beautiful. Bumped into Mark G. who pointed out a Velvet Scoter, fairly close in on the sea and also a Grey Phalarope flew past west! No other birds of note really. Mark then went off birding elsewhere with R.M.

Cley Beach looking towards Salthouse (iphone).

I parked up at Beach Road, Salthouse and walked to Gramborough Hill. Everything is still exactly the same since the storm surge – the carpark is still immersed by tons of shingle. There was a redshank in the pool on route, but nothing else of note at all – oh, apart from a Red-throated Diver on the sea. I stopped briefly on the verge by the main road, just round the corner from Beach Road to look for any wintering chiffchaffs in the willows and bushes, but no luck. There were however a few House Sparrows and Goldfinches in here.

I received a Parrot Crossbill tip off and arrived at Edgefield to join Mark G. and R.M. to watch a lovely Parrot Crossbill (three were seen by M. and R.), high up in a pine tree and then a Red Kite shortly afterwards! Not too bad a list at all so far! Went into Holt to do some errands and to buy mother some stronger painkillers for her toothache and then bought a vegetable and leek pie from Byfords for my lunch.

I had intended on continuing west and going to Gun Hill to look for the Rough-legged Buzzard, but the time was disappearing fast, so I decided to stay put. I went back to Coastguards and watched Lapwings feeding on the west bank, but did not see the Stonechats again, which I was hoping for as the light was better now for photography. Looked out to sea and saw no birds at all. But I did bump into Sue and Steve G. which was lovely. Spent a while trying to take a 'selfie'. It does make me laugh... the word 'selfie', basically for those of you that don't know, its a self-portrait!

Me, aged 49, Coastguards carpark, Cley – 'Selfie' with iphone!

Parked at the Cley V.C carpark and walked out to Bishop's Hide for the first time since the storm. I was the only person in the hide, which was nice and peaceful. I could see the damage to the central hides from here, overall they didn't look too bad, but you could see they had some damage too them. I haven't heard if the hides are going to be repaired or replaced yet, but I know that the boardwalk out to them has got to be re-built and put into place. Sat here as the sun set watching birds flocking in to roost. Lots of wigeon here, 2 Avocets and 70+ Lapwing (can't remember the rest as writing this two day's later, sorry!). Pink-footed Geese filled the skies as the day disappeared into night.

Teal, Dauke's & Avocet Hides Cley NWT, damaged from the storm surge.

Taken from Bishop's Hide, NWT.

Drove to Holme to take mother her painkillers. I felt so sorry for her – she was in so much pain. Inspection of her tooth showed that it was not a bit of tooth that had chipped off, but the entire tooth! No wonder she was in pain! She had played that down at christmas! After much discussion about the dentist tomorrow, I decided that the only guaranteed way to get mother to the dentist was to drive her there myself before work. It would have cost her £24 to get a taxi and even then she might not have been able to get there in time for her given appointment. Father was not in a good state of mind and this made things even more difficult. We had no choice, but to risk leaving father tomorrow morning to fend for himself as there was no one to ask and at such short notice to sit with him.

Got home late, not the kind of day I had planned. I was supposed to have lunch out and I also imagined (in my dreams) of having a romantic meal out in the evening – you know the kind of dream ladies......... tall, dark, handsome, stranger bearing roses, champagne, black magic, diamond ring, Chanel No. 5, tickets for a jet-setting weekend away – the list goes on!!! Oh well, maybe next year!

Sunday, 26 January 2014

It rained ALL day! Well, I say all day, there was a couple of brief interludes when it didn't! A shockingly, appalling day to say the least.

I arrived at Cley and went straight to the NWT Visitor Centre for a cheese scone! I timed this sooooo badly. There was a large queue of teenagers with clip-boards (obviously doing some kind of survey) all wanting coffee, latte, hot chocolate, some who couldn't make their mind up and so on. I queued patiently and eventually got my scone and managed to sneak a seat on the bench with window view. Don't get me wrong, it was fabulous to see the centre so busy, they need to be busy after the recent closure, but I just wish I had got there a bit earlier! Whilst enjoying my scone I watched the rain pelting down, with no sign of it giving up.

It's January and not the time for deliberately getting soaked looking for migrants, so I opted for dude, car birding. I re-located to Coastguards and positioned the car next to the Eye Field so I could view the 'Eye Puddle' and beyond. I poured a coffee and had a piece of coffee cake (which Vivien bought me for my birthday tomorrow and yes I have opened it early!). It was quite nice sitting in the car listening to the rain lashing down, but the novelty eventually wore off. The rain continued all afternoon. I dozed, drank more coffee and waited for the rain to stop. Much later on the rain did stop for a few moments and as it did, I saw a small bird appearing from the long grass – it was a male Stonechat! This really cheered the afternoon up and then a second one, a female! These stonechats stayed feeding on and off for the rest of the afternoon and at times they were really close to me. The wind and rain were driving in the car when I wound the window down, which didn't help my camera lens at all. Took some fabulous pictures of a Lapwing close up, or so I thought, until I realised there were tons of rain spots on the lens! Rain and cameras do not mix, I should know that more than anyone with my past mishaps!!! Apart from a lone black-headed gull, I saw nothing else!

At 3.15pm I whizzed up to the NWT Visitor Centre to meet up with Pete S. for a quick cup of tea. Whilst waiting for Pete I was chatting to Jean (from Sheringham) and she was telling me how she had watched thousands and thousands of Pink-footed Geese flying unusually low (after dusk), just above the breakers of the sea last night – this went on for a considerably time. She said although it was almost dark she could still see them flying just above the waves. After my tea and brief catch up with Pete I then left to go home.

Friday, 24 January 2014

Don't know what I'm doing exactly yet, but I NEED to wake up tomorrow without setting the alarm. The weekend will include birding, a cheese scone at the V.C. on Monday (possibly), family time and photo editing, same as usual really!

Watch
Winterwatch 'Unsprung' with Nick Baker at 9pm Red Button (Channel 301), there may be
a remote possibility that I might be mentioned in tonight's show. I
tweeted a reply to Nick last night about someone who contacted them about a bird
they heard in woodland, that sounded like a stone falling in a bucket. My reply was Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming and Nick favourited my tweet!

Saturday, 18 January 2014

Started the day visiting my sister Lucy. It was a rain filled morning with gloomy skies. I had a very kind text from a fellow birder, which took me to The Walks in King's Lynn to see a very fine Drake Mandarin Duck sitting on a wall above the river by the bandstand. To be exact it was just below Guannock Gate. The Mandarin was sitting on the wall on the far left hand-side of the picture at the top of this website! It had no rings at all and outshone all the mallards by miles! Lots of people and dogs in the Walks, not one of my favourite places to be honest. In the summer it's heaving with people and more dogs! It would be really nice is there was a no dog ban, but that's never going to happen in the middle of a town! I remember seeing a spotted flycatcher by the church once, many years ago, but don't know if they are still seen or not.

Mallard in The Walks, King's Lynn.

Drake Mandarin in The Walks, King's Lynn.

Visited my parents and delivered papers etc. Father was very fed-up and mother sadly wasn't much better. Mother pointed out an excellent picture of a bittern in yesterday's EDP that had been taken at Strumpshaw Fen RSPB – it was indeed an excellent flight shot. She also said she has been seeing a Chiffchaff fairly regularly in the garden. The sun appeared after lunch and remained quite bright for the rest of the day!

Cruised to Cley in search of the Glossy Ibis. On route I saw a Barn Owl over the marsh at Burnham Overy Mill and also a Marsh Harrier at Stiffkey Flash. Arrived in Cley and as I drove along Glandford Road near The Three Swallows Pub I passed Pete Snook, who kindly said he would 'drive round the block' to look for the Ibis and we would meet up by Wiveton Bridge. Met a lady birder by the bridge also looking for the Ibis. Both she and I were very pleased when Pete appeared to say he had found the Glossy Ibis in a field in Leatherpool Lane at 3.35pm. It was lovely having the bird all to ourselves. It was with a single curlew, but flew off later when disturbed by a big flock of curlew that took off in alarm – it flew high west, as if going towards Blakeney Fresh Marsh.

Glossy Ibis at Cley.

On hearing that the A149 coast road through Cley and Salthouse was now open, Pete and I both drove to Coastguards. I needed my sea fix desperately. The carpark has been stripped of shingle and two thirds of it now looks the same as pre the storm surge. We soon realised why..... the shingle had been bull-dozed back into massive heaps to allow access for vehicles to get through onto the beach to collect the helicopter wreckage, you could see the tracks going east all along the beach. Took some funky sunset shots on the iphone. Hundreds of Brent Geese on the Eye Field.

Sunset over the Eye Field at Cley – taken with iphone.

Pete and I walked east as the sun was setting. We had no intention of walking up as far as the crash site, which I thought was much closer to the East Bank than it was and we were a long way off reaching the East Bank. But, suddenly we realised we were standing there. I felt like I was tresspassing, like we shouldn't have been there. It was incredibly sad standing here and my thoughts raced back to that fateful night. The area is fenced off for two years, but I think it should stay fenced permanently out of respect. I still, even now, can't believe that a helicopter has crashed and killed four crew here..... RIP. Cley NWT and the local people have really taken a battering over the last few weeks, let's hope everyone can pull through and things can return to some sort of normality. I really hope that the breaches in the sea wall can be repaired soon, to give this amazing reserve a chance to recover.

The sunset and skies were just awesome this evening at Cley – looking towards the Eye Field.

Anyway, Pete and I turned back and walked back along the shoreline to Coastguards. We sat and had a hot drink and then Pete went home for his tea. I sat in my car drinking coffee, thinking, pondering and dreaming – then left to go home!

Next weekend is my birthday weekend and I have THREE days off – Wahooooo!!! It will more than probably be snowing by the weekend, it generally is on my birthday!

Please note that none of my pictures will be sharp until I get the lens fixed. The IS is not working correctly and this has to be replaced – on order now.

The A149 coast road from Cley to Salthouse is now open earlier than expected. Beach Road at Cley and also Beach Road at Salthouse is also open. Cley NWT Visitor Centre opens its doors again at 10am tomorrow and also Bishop' Hide, but the rest of the NWT reserve will remain closed until further notice. See HERE

Tuesday, 14 January 2014

THIS IS ABSOLUTE DISGUSTING!How unbelievably cruel. Surely this must be a joke! But sadly.... no, its not, it's real!

"According to the Mirror,
hunters have officially captured two wild orcas that will be kept in a
“small concrete tank following a 4,614-mile flight” from Russia’s far
east. The aim is to have these two orcas on display at the Sochi
Dolphinarium just in time for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, which will
begin on February 7."

Didn't
say anything about details yesterday, but BBC Look East is doing a feature on
golf courses that have been damaged through the storm surge and the four
pictures of mine that are being shown are of Holme Golf Course at 6.30pm tonight. Hopefully I can watch it on
the net later, as I can't get or see BBC Look East!

6.42 Minutes into the video is a general East Coast report on the debris left behind.

9 Minutes into the video the Hunstanton/Holme Golf Course reports starts with my pictures shown. Although I was asked for four pictures, they actually showed two pictures in the end!

Monday, 13 January 2014

I have just been contacted by BBC Look East to show some of my storm pictures
from 5th December on a special feature they are airing shortly! Will keep you posted when it's going to be aired.

The amusing thing is that I can't watch Look East, as many people can't in North Norfolk. There seems to be small pockets where people can watch it, but the majority of people in this area have to put up with watching Yorkshire news! It's been like this for donkey's years!

Update: The storm feature is tomorrow night at 6.30pm!!! Just edited pictures, saved at 300dpi and emailed them with my name embedded in the jpg (as suggested by a FB friend, thanks). So annoying I can't watch the programme, but may be able to watch it on the net afterwards I suppose.

Not too bad a Monday today with above news and also that I lost 4lbs in weight on my first weekly weigh-in with my diet this morning! A new Penny by mid-summer!

A stunningly beautiful, frosty start to the day – some of the roads were treacherous this morning.

Met up with Pete Snook at Stiffkey Fen this afternoon. The path to the fen was very water-logged and the wet, muddy stiles were a challenge to climb over! Lots of Greylags on the field west of the path. A Rock Pipit flew over calling as we walked past the fen. At least 300+ Lapwing on the Fen itself. Stood by the boats, slightly east of the fen and joined Paul W. and together with two other birders a bit later, we watched: 2 Black-throated Divers, several Guillemots, at least 6 Red-breasted Mergansers, 1 Golden Eye, *3 Long-tailed Ducks, *1 Kingfisher, *Peregrine (*not seen by me!), 2 Marsh Harriers, several Grey Plovers, Redshanks, several Pintail, Teal, Wigeon, Shelducks, Knot and Turnstones. Also 2 Little Grebes were ducking and diving in the creek next to us. It was bitterly cold when we left. The wavering reeds shimmered gold as the sun was setting. An excellent selection of birds here!

Pete went home east and I went on to Stiffkey Campsite where I saw 1 Barn Owl, 1 Merlin and at least 20+ Little Egrets flying east to roost. I missed a Hen Harrier which had flown through east, moments before I arrived. I left to drive along the coast road to Holme – on route I saw a Barn Owl flying across the road at Holkham.

Went to visit my parents. Father was sitting on the sofa in his shorts with a blanket over his knees with a hot water bottle. He's been wearing shorts since the summer and every time I ask him 'why....?' and 'are you not cold?' he just smiles and says 'no.... it's just my hands that get cold'. Crazy!!! I really don't get the shorts and blanket!!! Incidentally, I suddenly realised the other day that its my parent's GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY on 30th March this year! I got a very blunt reply of 'NO' when I asked them if they wanted any celebrations – which is the reply I expected really!

I went home via Ringstead and saw my third Barn Owl sitting on a post and also a Muntjac Deer in a hedgerow. Three Barn Owls in one day was a real treat!

For many years now, there have been paragliders, light aircraft, jets, helicopters etc flying over our coastline either for pleasure or training purposes. It has been witnessed many, many times that some of these aircraft have flown dangerously and inappropriately low at times. Paragliders (especially) and other aircraft regularly fly very low over Cley NWT Reserve (a designated SSSI site) during summer months, scattering and disturbing all birds on the reserve and in the breeding season this can be catastrophic. I have watched them do this on countless occasions and when watching paragliders through binoculars, I can see that the person in the glider is either simply not bothered or ignorantly unaware of what he/she is doing when the entire bird population of the reserve is scattered in all directions underneath and around them! There is a height zone in place, but this is not adhered to by many!I witnessed paramotors flying low over Blakeney Point Nature Nature Reserve on 7th October 2013 and my pictures were requested for use on the NT Blog – see HERE. National Trust staff wrote the following: "There was a
"Moment of Chaos" on Saturday evening. Two paramotors flew dangerously
low along the Point, disturbing hundreds of birds on the reserve. This
unnecessary disturbance was frustrating, if it had occurred during the
breeding season then there could have been catastrophic consequences. To prevent disturbance to sensitive wildlife, paramotors should not fly over Blakeney National Nature Reserve.".

I also witnessed two jets flying dangerously low over my head at Salthouse last summer – the noise was so loud as they flew overhead, that it hurt my ears!

A birder wrote on FB this evening "A
couple of years ago, just outside the entrance to Cley VC, I was
totally gobsmacked when a military helicopter, coming from the village
direction, flew east between the coast road and the main hides. It was
so low, I was looking down on it from the car park. I have to admit it
was a fascinating sight, but stupid and dangerous"

I had an email from a fellow birder who sent me the following:"....I have attached two photos of Pave Hawk Helicopters flying very low over Cley/Salthouse marshes on 7th November 2013....." "The pilots were clearly trying to out fly each other or that was the impression that we had at the time. At one point they flew very low over a flock of about 300 Brent Geese and many Black-tailed Godwits. Fortunately the geese flew inland and the helicopters turned round and flew back to Weybourne Beacon. These pilots clearly had no regard or were unaware of the wildlife on the marsh. The comment at the time was it was an accident waiting to happen......"

Pave Hawk Helicopters flying very low over Salthouse on7th November 2013. Should those two helicopters have being flying that close together?!!!

There should be no planes, helicopters, handgliders etc flying so low over this world famous nature reserve at all!!! Creates a massive and unnecessary disturbance to wildlife, people and at huge risk of..... well it's happened now! It could have been soooo much worse though – could have been on a Saturday on a nice sunny day in Spring or Autumn Migration with hundreds of birders and walkers enjoying the beauty of this reserve or/and maybe masses of twitchers watching a mega – it doesn't bear thinking about!!! I read somewhere that they only fly these aircraft 'that low' at night, but I distinctly remember seeing a couple of fighter jets (that's what they looked like to me) flying scarily low over me at Salthouse once (last summer) and had to put my hands to my ears quickly because of the noise and pain experienced!

This tragic accident is a massive wake up call! Surely there are other far less sensitive sites to train over, other than the most famous nature reserve in the UK!!!

Also had information from a friend that "one of the Cley sluices (East Bank?) had been damaged, in the attempt to get heavy equipment out to the crash scene. "

From a friend on FB:"An American US military Pave Hawk Helicopter crashed at 19.45 07-01-14
near the East Bank, Cley next the Sea, killing 4 crew on board. It
allegedly has live ammo on board and can't be dealt with by UK Emergency
Services. They have to wait until the Americans arrive before they can
do anything!!"

My thoughts are with the families of those that were killed – so terribly sad!

Several local people said that a helicopter flew very low over the village shortly before it crashed. There is talk on the web that it could have been a bird strike – could have been pink-footed geese on mass, especially if the helicopter was low, who knows..... won't know until at least first light tomorrow.

Sunday, 5 January 2014

I have not had a holiday away since 2010 and I have decided that I'm going away this year to sunnier climates. I don't care if my bank balance approves or not! I need to escape! Therefore I also need to shed some pounds! The diet begins (again) tomorrow! Anyone that sees me queuing up for a cheese scone at the Cley Visitor
Centre or the Cley Deli for a piece of pear & ginger cake, please
stop me! I havn't decided where or when I'm going yet, but I AM going!

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